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Jon Moxley is in a good place.
Changing jobs can be nerve-racking and intimidating sometimes. After eight years inside the WWE, a change of scenery for Moxley and the company seemed like the best move for both parties.
With pit stops in Northeast Wrestling and New Japan, Moxley has had himself an interesting 2019. Now fully embedded in All Elite Wrestling, the re-energized version of Moxley is something the entire pro wrestling community can feel pop off the screen.
In a very good interview with Bleacher Report, Moxley’s newfound enthusiasm for professional wrestling could be heard in each and every quote. Maybe on purpose or maybe just the flow of the interview, the piece steers clear of any talk about Moxley’s time with WWE.
When asked about the culture of the AEW locker room and once again being part of a weekly TV show, Moxley couldn’t help but be vocal about AEW’s creative process.
“That freedom to be yourself now on a national platform is super exciting. The fans are gonna notice a difference. They’re gonna see stuff that’s not canned f--king horses--t. I think you’re already seeing it in the shows we’ve already had.”
Moxley continued:
“When we hit 10 p.m.,” he recounts, “everybody backstage was high-fiving and was like, ‘We did it. We did a two-hour show. We got one. It happened.’ It was a celebration, like we won the game. The crowd knew, too, because they were booing the guys in the ring, and as soon as it hit 10 o’clock, all of a sudden the crowd started cheering. Now it’s like an addictive thing to put TV together and make sure your deal comes off good. It’s more in the hands of the performers than other places where it might be in the hands of 30 people who are coming up with this s--t in some office somewhere and you have to figure out how to make sense of it as a wrestler.”
Want a war? It sounds like Jon Moxley is not the person to go to if you want to feed the AEW vs. WWE beast.
Moxley takes on Kenny Omega this Saturday night at AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view.
On a budget for budget basis AEW cannot compete with WWE. Is offering free agent wrestlers more creative freedoms the way for AEW to lure talent away from WWE?